He sighed impatiently.
“Sophie is eighteen. Your father wouldn’t want her blowing her inheritance because some boyfriend talked her into something stupid.”
My stomach tightened.
“Whose name is the CD under?” Baby& Pet Names
“Mine.”
I stared at him.
“Your name?”
“It protects the money.”
“Show me.”
“Claire.”
“Show me.”
He finally sighed.
“The paperwork is in my briefcase.”
And the next morning—
he showed me.
Official-looking statement.
Letterhead I vaguely recognized.
A balance close to what I remembered.
Adrian tapped the page.
“See?”
“Same money.”
“Safer place.”
I was exhausted.
Grieving.
Scared.
So I said:
“Okay.”
That one word haunted me later.
LOLA OFFERED ME A WAY OUT
A week later, she found me crying in the office break room.
Lola closed the door. Doors& Windows
Then sat across from me.
“You can stay with me.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“My couch folds out.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“No questions. Stay as long as you need.”
I wiped my face.
“I can’t leave Willowcrest Lane.”
“Why?”
My voice cracked.
“What if Sophie comes home?”
Lola said nothing.
“What if she knocks and I’m gone?”
She reached across the table.
Squeezed my wrist.
“The offer does not expire.”
I almost told her about the inheritance.
About Adrian’s paperwork.
About the tiny feeling in my stomach telling me something was wrong.
I nearly called Harold, the attorney who had handled my father’s estate years earlier.
But I didn’t.
